Daily Bread July 10

The Reasonableness of Faith (Part 2 of 3)
From A Way of Life: Understanding Our Christian Faith


[Excerpted from A Way of Life: Understanding Our Christian Faith, Anthony J. Chvala-Smith, Herald House, 2019, pp. 31-32]

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. -2 Corinthians 5:17-19

There are not “proofs” for God’s existence. God is not a piece of data. God is not a thing among other things that we can measure or analyze. Nor is God the answer to a kind of a geometry problem that one simply can solve with the right formula. A “god” who can be proven like a theorem is not what Christian faith means when it uses the word God. God’s being is unfathomable. God’s existence is beyond the normal ways we think and know. …God’s nature is to be…God’s name is “I am” (Exodus 3:13-15). Humans…are mortal and limited. We might not have been, and one day we will cease to be. Our existence springs from elsewhere, not from ourselves. But God’s existence is unique; God simply is. And that truth exceeds the power of human comprehension. …God graciously invites us to give ourselves to the divine mystery in trust and love. While all this is beyond human reason’s considerable ability, it by no means is irrational. In a similar way, human love is intensely real, yet we struggle to probe its depths and grasp its heights. But even when our words fail, we do not cease giving ourselves in love to others. And in this action, we trust what we are doing, even if we do not fully comprehend it.

Faith in God makes sense of our yearning to seek beyond ourselves for what is higher, good, true, beautiful, and just. The unsettledness in the human soul and the longing of our minds to comprehend things make a new kind of sense if God exists as the infinite mystery of the world. That scientists find the universe, with all its chaos and unpredictability, comprehensible makes sense if we imagine a creative mind at work within it. That millions of years of evolution can produce a child’s glee at watching a butterfly or a scientist’s calculations of the movements of galaxies makes sense if the universe and its processes reflect an ultimate mystery, God. None of these observations “proves” that God exists, but they support our conviction that a life of faith is neither irrational nor misguided.

Prayer Phrase

Let your world of beauty capture me.

Spiritual Practice

Growing a Gracious, Generous Heart

Open your heart to God’s grace and generosity with a “breath prayer.” Let your breathing slow and deepen. Be aware of God’s breath moving in and out of your heart. Spend several minutes focusing on breathing in God’s generosity. With each breath, silently name one gift for which you are thankful. Let your heart expand to contain God’s gracious outpouring of love. With each breath out, name one gift you want to share from the overflow of your heart.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

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